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Monday, March 23, 2015

The Morning Offering (Ancient Faith Publishing)

Abbot Tryphon is both a blogger and podcaster at Ancient Faith Radio. He has recently published a book called The Morning Offering. It shares its name with both his blog and podcast. The book is laid out in the format of a daily devotional with a page devoted to each day of the year. The flaw with this book, as with most daily devotionals, is that they forget February 29th. Sure, this is only an issue once every four years, but it can be very annoying when you want a reading and don't have one.

Here is a sample of one of the reflections. January 1 begins by talking about typical resolutions, like losing weight or saving money. Instead of these cliched resolutions, Abbot Tryphon offers us these words of wisdom. "A better plan would be to pledge ourselves to exercise virtue during the coming year. Doing this means disposing ourselves to do good habitually and firmly. We pledge ourselves not only to perform good acts, but also to give the best of ourselves to others. Virtuous people tend toward the good with all their sensory and spiritual powers and also pursue the good, choosing to do it through concrete actions."

This and the many other great reflections in this book are the perfect way to start your day. Each reading takes only five to ten minutes to read, so you can read it over breakfast or a cup of coffee. At times, you cannot tell this book is Eastern Orthodox, but then he makes references to hesychia, Elder Paisos of Mount Athos, and St. John the Wonderworker.This is neither a criticism nor a compliment, merely an observation. Therefore, you could buy this book for your Catholic or Protestant family and friends, and they would find it approachable and understandable as well. Even though the year is almost one-fourth over, it's not too late to draw closer to God. This book is a simple starting point for doing just that.

This book was provided to me for free by Ancient Faith Publishing in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!